Market Cap vs FDV: Reading Solana Meme Coin Valuations
By Alphacino Editorial Team ·
Quick Take
Market cap tells you what the circulating supply is worth, and FDV tells you what the whole supply would be worth. Mixing them up is how traders misjudge entries.
Every token page shows two valuation numbers, and most new traders only look at one. Knowing the difference between market cap and fully diluted value (FDV) is basic, but it changes how you judge a meme coin.
Market cap is price multiplied by circulating supply, meaning the tokens that can actually trade today. FDV is price multiplied by total supply, including tokens that are locked, vesting or held back for later. The gap between the two is supply that has not hit the market yet but eventually could.
On most pump.fun launches the two numbers are the same, because the entire supply is minted at launch and circulates from day one. That is part of why meme coins feel cleaner than VC-backed tokens with years of unlocks ahead. When a Solana meme does show a big gap between market cap and FDV, ask why. It usually means team allocations, vesting schedules or tokens parked somewhere that can be released later, and those unlocks tend to land on top of buyers.
The second lesson is about room to run. A coin at a $5M market cap and a coin at a $500M market cap are different trades. Going 10x from $5M means reaching $50M, which plenty of memes do in a strong week. Going 10x from $500M means a $5B valuation and needs mainstream money to show up. Price per token tells you none of this, so a coin trading at fractions of a cent is not cheap just because the number is small.
Check both numbers before you buy, ask where any gap comes from, and size your expectations to the market cap rather than the price.
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